THE ROLES OF DIGITAL MARKETING IN THE PERFORMANCES OF SMALL AND MEDIUM SIZE ENTERPRISES IN OWERRI IMO STATE, NIGERIA

This research work investigated the role of digital marketing in enhancing the SMES’ performance in Owerri, Imo State, Nigeria. Specifically, the objectives of the study were to explore the impact of social media marketing on brand visibility, search engine optimization (SEQ) on market expansion and email marketing on customer engagement of SMEs in Owerri, Imo State. Survey research design was adopted and the study’s population comprised of owners of SMEs in Owerri. The study employed the Yamane formula to obtain a sample size of 67 and structured questionnaire was employed as the instrument of data collection. The research questions were analyzed using percentages while multiple regression technique was adopted to test the formulated hypotheses. The study found that all the digital marketing tools adopted had significant effect on SMEs’ performance in Owerri, Imo State. Based on the foregoing, it is the conclusion of the study that digital marketing has significant impact on SMEs’ performance in Owerri Imo State. It is therefore recommended amongst others that marketers should look at more ways through which they can place promotional advertisement for products that are personalized to suit the viewer's needs in the social media platform. This may involve the use of various data mining and analytical tools.